Gas usage. Blimey!!

[Boris7]

Looks to be about £2500-£3000 installed. I would want the 6000w system not the 4000w I think for a large van. Add in a shed load more solar, Lithium and a compressor fridge for good measure. I presume it feeds off the vans diesel tank? Worth looking at down the line but Im not convinced about Truma for reliability.

I’ve been quoted £2,100 for the gas Truma, fully installed. Goes in in late October.. The compressor fridge was a massive improvement.

 

[barryd]

The 6kg is the most expensive calor bottle to run , ouch

Our 6kg Calor has not been used all summer, it's there as a backup to the 6kg Gaslow. The cost doesn't bother me it's the convenience and having enough on board this time of year. 23 litres sounds like a lot between the two bottles but in Autumn you could zip through the lot in ten days.

The 6kg Calor whilst expensive I can get on the scooter so I should never run out of gas as long as I keep a litre or so in the Gaslow which then becomes the backup for long stays where there are no LPG stations.

Diesel sounds way better though but it's only now it's become an issue. We will be on hookup later in October anyway

 

[Fisherman]

Haven't had a winter with our diesel truma set up in our PVC yet but impressed to date with the heat output and water heating. Whilst the burner isn't noisy or smelly (after initial fire up) the pump is a bit noisy. (Not sure if that needs checking out). However, I prefer it to the gas system because now I don't get gas level anxiety, always plenty of diesel in the van tank and if I'm low it's easy to get a fill up. Would definitely choose diesel over gas in future.

Get some sound adhesive insulation and place it between the diesel pump and the chassis. I found that reduced the tapping noise from the pump. Also I have had mine almost two years now and maybe I am getting used to it, but the noise seems quieter now than when it was new.

 

[trevexess]

This last week is the first time we have used the heating off grid in this van for any sustained period. Usually by this time of year I am nicely tucked away for a few weeks on a site with hookup. Thanks to Merl's super Solar system though we haven't had to do that so far. However the bloody Truma heating system in this van (Which is a huge space to heat) don't half use some gas. Its not like we have it on all the time either. Maybe last thing at night and for a couple of hours in the morning.

Filled the 6kg Gaslow on Sunday and its pretty much empty today. Some days its not been on at all apart from the Fridge. I do have the 6kg Calor back up but apparently we are not allowed to use that. Will fill up tomorrow at Marquis motorhomes near Exeter. I had expected it to do better than it has. Ten days off grid at our next place solar permitting but its the gas that is going to be the issue I think not power. Huge van, puny gas locker.

Fit a diesel heater, best thing we ha e ever added to our van.

 

[Pudsey Bear]

The way some of you go through gas is scary, our gas fridge was never off for nearly 7 weeks, never touched the Calor 6kg at all and I think we only topped up the Gaslow 4 times, but it never got below 1/2 all the time, Liz is the best at frugality, far better than me, I just use it as I need it but she'll think of ways to avoid it, like the kettle for washing up instead of the boiler.

 

[caledonia]

Fit a nice cosy log burner. The fuel grows on trees so free if you know where to look and it’s better for the planet

 

[ProDave]

You need to learn the art of self refilling gas bottles, and refill them from a 47Kg doner.

 

[Fazerloz]

Does anyone want to buy some plant pots and tea lights.

 

[Geek]

We have a diesel water and space heater and I am astonished at how little diesel it uses. The tank holds 2 gallons and doing all our water heating thus season has used perhaps 10% of that.

That's because diesel heaters are usually much less powerful than they claimed, so they don't use much diesel.

Diesel is 10KWh per litre. (14.5p/KW) An 8KW heater has to use 0.8 litres per hour, plus some for efficiency losses. Probably a litre per hour. If it uses less than that, it's not doing what it claims.

LPG is around 6.8 KWh per litre. (11.8p to 14.6p per KWh, depending on price - except Birmingham where it's 9.6p per KWh).

 

[Geek]

Does anyone want to buy some plant pots and tea lights.

You can pick them up for free from the dustbins of the gullible.

 

[Geek]

Baz, you could get a couple of those 47kg bottles outside your van......start selling lucky heather and clothes pegs. View attachment 146312

Those big bottles lasta long time, but they're not cheaper than refillable.

 

[Geek]

Get some sound adhesive insulation and place it between the diesel pump and the chassis. I found that reduced the tapping noise from the pump. Also I have had mine almost two years now and maybe I am getting used to it, but the noise seems quieter now than when it was new.

I replaced my diesel heater pump with a different one that claims to be quieter.

It certainly is: almost completely inaudible. Much, much better, and I now have a spare pump.

I also added a better silencer to reduce the roar outside,. Made a difference, but not as dramatic.

 

[Pudsey Bear]

Those big bottles lasta long time, but they're not cheaper than refillable.

Not much in it if you shop for the cheapest, but I see you point, and where would you put it anyway except if you had a full width garage, and they are ot designed to be laid down but upright.

47kg Calor Gas propane bottle is around £80 to £100 for the gas if you're exchanging an empty cylinder, but the total price can be over £150 for a new cylinder and gas, with the cheapest offers seen at about £79.95 for the refill from Camping and Caravan Direct. A 47kg cylinder contains approximately 92.12 litres of propane, calculated by multiplying the cylinder's mass by 1.96, = £0.89pl.

 

[mistericeman]

I replaced my diesel heater pump with a different one that claims to be quieter.

It certainly is: almost completely inaudible. Much, much better, and I now have a spare pump.

I also added a better silencer to reduce the roar outside,. Made a difference, but not as dramatic.

Have you got a intake silencer fitted too..

IF not it's well worth fitting one especially a genuine eberspacher one.
I run both a eberspacher intake silencer and one of these

Upgraded 24mm Exhaust Pipe Silencer Muffler For Car Air Diesel Parking Heater @ | eBay UK

24mm Muffler Silencer + Clamp + Bracket Car Air Diesel Parking Heater Exhaust Pipe Stainless Steel. The upgraded silencer has two small holes on one side. The two holes are for drainage. The side with the holes needs to be installed underneath.

ebay.us

And can't hear the heater when running unless you are within a metre or so of the van

 

[Geek]

Have you got a intake silencer fitted too..

IF not it's well worth fitting one especially a genuine eberspacher one.
I run both a eberspacher intake silencer and one of these

Upgraded 24mm Exhaust Pipe Silencer Muffler For Car Air Diesel Parking Heater @ | eBay UK

24mm Muffler Silencer + Clamp + Bracket Car Air Diesel Parking Heater Exhaust Pipe Stainless Steel. The upgraded silencer has two small holes on one side. The two holes are for drainage. The side with the holes needs to be installed underneath.

ebay.us

And can't hear the heater when running unless you are within a metre or so of the van

Yes, the silencer I fitted looks like that. It is better than the original, but not a huge amount better. Enough to be worth having, though.

The intake is inside the shed with a rather minimal filter on it.

The exhaust is outside (there's a constant ventilation fan blowing in elsewhere).

So it's easy to determine how much noise the intake makes.

The noise from the intake is insignificant compared to the heating fan noise.

 

[mistericeman]

Yes, the silencer I fitted looks like that. It is better than the original, but not a huge amount better. Enough to be worth having, though.

The intake is inside the shed with a rather minimal filter on it.

The exhaust is outside (there's a constant ventilation fan blowing in elsewhere).

So it's easy to determine how much noise the intake makes.

The noise from the intake is insignificant compared to the heating fan noise.

It's actually surprising how much noise there is from the intake side...
When correctly installed with intake and exhaust external its surprising how many folks don't bother with the intake silencer (people often refer to it as a filter) and then say they are noisy...
I reckon they are a good bit quiter with both silencers fitted.
Eberspacher also supply a silencer for the room air side too for installs where fan noise, is problematic

 

[barryd]

The way some of you go through gas is scary, our gas fridge was never off for nearly 7 weeks, never touched the Calor 6kg at all and I think we only topped up the Gaslow 4 times, but it never got below 1/2 all the time, Liz is the best at frugality, far better than me, I just use it as I need it but she'll think of ways to avoid it, like the kettle for washing up instead of the boiler.

Yeah but you spend most of the time driving Kev so its on 12v and you stink and obviously never shower.

 

[Fisherman]

The way some of you go through gas is scary, our gas fridge was never off for nearly 7 weeks, never touched the Calor 6kg at all and I think we only topped up the Gaslow 4 times, but it never got below 1/2 all the time, Liz is the best at frugality, far better than me, I just use it as I need it but she'll think of ways to avoid it, like the kettle for washing up instead of the boiler.

Kev, were the maggots in your fridge comfortable at 18c, or did the wee buggers fly out all over the place when Liz opened the door

 

[Pudsey Bear]

Yeah but you spend most of the time driving Kev so its on 12v and you stink and obviously never shower.

Nope it only ever on gas.

 

[Neckender]

@barryd Hi Barry I fitted a cheap Chinese diesel heater to my VW T6.1 nearly 3 years ago and it’s been absolutely fantastic, I bought a pump cover for the pump and clad that with waterproof pipe lagging and there’s no noise at all from the oil pump supplied.
It cost me £87 and with all the extras I bought the total cost to me was £200.
On start up it consumes about 8 amps and once warmed up it uses about 1 amp.

I also installed a combined unit diesel heater in my garage and because of petrol fumes ( old classic bike ) I took the exhaust through the garage wall and also the air intake through the garage wall, I extended the exhaust with 22 mm copper pipe which I had lying around so that the exhaust gasses couldn’t mix with the air inlet. My garage 22’6” x 10’ 6” is a pleasure to work in during the winter months.